Rams Jump on Own Bandwagon

One victory, one little leap to a 2-4 record and suddenly all is well again with the Rams.

Last week, they were 1-4 and feeling at rock bottom.

“We couldn’t even see the light of day two days ago,” Coach John Robinson said.

But Monday, the Rams didn’t need excuses, statistical examinations or an embarrassed coach to explain their plight.

All they needed was to point to the NFC standings, accept the compliments for the 44-24 pounding they had given the Atlanta Falcons Sunday and begin talking about how their early-season emergencies are vanishing.

One victory, and the sinking feelings are history.

“I think we’ve crawled out of the hole and we’re back in the race,” Robinson said. “I think there are a couple of guys way out in front of us, but surprisingly, there are a number of people, when you think wild card, who are not very far in front of us, who have yet to negotiate a couple of holes that may be up there for them, too.

“If we can get going and really start to improve now, then I think we can make this into a good season.”

Only six NFC teams have better records than the Rams, and only three of those--the San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears and New York Giants--seem particularly uncatchable.

And, including the Rams, seven teams--one-half of the conference--have 2-4 records. Thanks to the addition of a third wild-card team this season, six teams in each conference make the playoffs.

So even if it’s more a matter of the rest of the conference falling back than the Rams’ rise into the playoff hunt, the Rams can dream of better days.

And the rest of the conference is courteously allowing them that luxury.

“I don’t see much difference in teams in the NFL, with the clear exception of those that you would put at the top,” Robinson said. “There’s a lot that happens from now. I think things begin to take shape, teams begin to settle into oblivion and others begin to try to stay in the hunt for whatever playoff opportunities they have.

“Go down the NFC list. Who’s going to be good? Damned if I know. It’s the club that seems to come alive now that has a chance to do it.

“We’ve done this before. We’ve had down periods and have come back strong from them. We hope we can do it again.”

If anything, the Rams hope the last month of trauma has made them stronger, tighter as a unit and ready for the long road ahead.

And after Sunday’s solid defensive performance against a wide-open Atlanta offense that would have seemed designed to plunder the Rams’ previously weak pass defense, they were convinced the tough times are through.

“This team has been through a lot the last six games, and we’re going to be a better team for it,” quarterback Jim Everett said. “I think this is going to be a turning point, after all we’ve gone through.”

Said Robinson: “I guess if you survive a beating it makes you stronger. I don’t know whether that’s masochistic or not. I think we did all of this staying together. I think there’s a certain sense of pride in that.

“In the course of the last month, a couple of coaches have been attacked in terms of not doing their job, of being in jeopardy of losing their jobs. Those are all difficult things to deal with. I think we all dealt with it OK.”

The man who had to deal with the most negative attention was defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur, who said the last thing he wanted was for the players to begin worrying about his job security.

When the point was raised publicly last week, Shurmur said he went to his players and told them to ignore the talk and concentrate on winning, not saving his job.

The result was a quality defensive effort, one that Shurmur thinks was more about personal pride than coaching survival.

“All I did was say that, ‘Hey, let’s not any of us get so involved with this job situation thing that it’s a factor,’ ” Shurmur said. “Because my job is not the issue. The issue is we as a group of people getting ready to play.

“I think when coaches start worrying about jobs, they spend the time protecting the damn thing instead of doing it. This is a deal where you’ve got to be ready to put yourself and what you believe on the line every week, and the minute you start appeasing or worrying about your job, then you spend all your job protecting it and not doing it.

“A lot of times when you start to give reasons for everything that happened--that’s history. You’ve got to look forward, you can’t be worrying about it. And I didn’t want them worrying about it.

“It wasn’t ‘play for the coach.’ That’s the least thing on my mind. I mean, that is not on my mind, ever. Play for themselves and for the thing that involves pride in your performance and demonstrating your ability to do whatever it takes to compete and win. That’s what’s involved.”